Armored Car Guard Killed In Robbery

December 22, 1998|By William Recktenwald, Tribune Staff Writer.

A 44-year-old armored car guard from Glen Ellyn was shot to death Tuesday morning during a West Side robbery.

According to Harrison Area Detective Commander Jack Kozaritz, the guard, Terence Madden, was making a delivery of money to a currency exchange at 2023 S. Ashland Ave. at about 9:30 a.m. when a man walked up to him and shot him.

"The offender was pretending to make a phone call just inside the exchange," Kozaritz said. "When the guard walked in, the offender walked up to him and shot him in the face."

"After the shooting, the gunman took the (money) bag and walked across the street and fled in a car with three other male occupants," Kozaritz said.

The guard was rushed to the Cook County Hospital trauma center where he was pronounced dead at 11 a.m.

United Armored Services, headquartered in west suburban Broadview, confirmed that the company had been robbed but could provide no details.

On Sept. 2, another United Armored employee was shot during a robbery at O'Hare International Airport. That guard, a 48-year old Lisle man, recovered from his wounds.

The exact amount taken in Tuesday's robbery was not immediately known, "but it was a sizable amount," Kozaritz said.